Woody Allen to Return to Acting Via Pimping

Woody AllenThe last time Woody Allen acted in a film he did not direct, the year was 2000, and the movie was Alfonso Arau’s Picking Up the Pieces. But now he’s back, and in a big way. Somehow, miraculously, John Turturro has convinced Woody to star alongside him in a nutso project called Fading Gigolo (which Turturro is also writing and directing). Let’s let the straight-faced Variety description take it away:

Turturro and Allen [play] cash-strapped best friends who decide to go into the gigolo business together and subsequently attract the suspicion of the Hasidic Jewish community in which they live. Duo take on the pseudonyms Virgil and Bongo, with Allen pimping out Turturro’s character until he falls for a Jewish widow, who has not yet been cast. [Sharon] Stone will play Allen’s dermatologist who hires Turturro to sleep with her, while [Sofia] Vergara is expected to play another wealthy client who’s bored with her marriage and wants to have a threesome with Turturro and Stone.

Well then! It’ll be nice enough to see Allen in the Hasidic gear, a sort of shout-out to the family-dinner scene in Annie Hall. And it’ll be even nicer seeing him sell John Turturro’s body for money! Turturro’s directorial record might be unheralded: His last film was the 2010 Italian music documentary Passione, and before that was the somewhat maligned 2005 musical Romance and Cigarettes. (And let’s face it: His career peak will always be as the Jesus Shuttlesworth-courting Coach Billy Sunday). But it’s Woody Allen as a bumbling Hasidic pimp! What could go wrong?

Filed Under: Movie News, Movies, Woody Allen

Amos Barshad has written for New York Magazine, Spin, GQ, XXL, and the Arkansas Times. He is a staff writer for Grantland.

Archive @ AmosBarshad